Post by Chickmom - 9 year old Budgie cannot fly after getting nails trimmed

[chickmom]

Hi I am not sure if this will be a post or a response. I am new to this forum. I have a parakeet Chickodee who is almost 9 years old. I took her to an avian vet last week to get her toe nails trimmed. The vet assistant HURT her and when we got her back she was closing her eyes alot on the ride home. Once we got home she was not able to fly. I believe they hurt her alula (what allows the birds to fly up and down like a plane) My question is does anyone know if she will heal if on cage rest? The same vet wanted to sedate her (and said Oh she can die under sedation) and charge me $ 250. for an x-ray after they hurt her. But the vet assistant also said they did an exam of her and did not see anything. I saw on her wing a small oval circle shaped mark that was pink and red about the size of a dime. Any help anyone can suggest would be appreciated. There are no other vets anywhere close to me. She is eating and chirping and fine otherwise. Thank you in advance.

[Marianne Marlow]

I'm sorry you had such a bad vet experience.

As for the mark on her wing, can you get a photo? it's hard to judge what it might be from a description.

I have had a few budgies stop being able to fly in later years for various reasons (loss of flight feathers, a stroke, unknown reasons)